Sunday, February 6, 2011

So I live in Connecticut which, if you haven’t been paying attention, is ground zero for this season’s snowpocalypse. It wouldn’t be so bad if we had a garage, but since we live in a city, we have street parking only – which means we have to dig the car out after every storm.

My mother, who lives in Florida, has been demanding pictures.
Here’s the street in front of my apartment:

And here’s the back yard:

Perhaps, after seeing these pictures, mom will realize why I was so unmoved by my Florida-based family’s constant kvetching about the (60 Farenheit) “cold” when I was down there for Christmas.

It’s actually above freezing today and supposed to remain so for much of the week, so perhaps we’ll finally get a bit of melting.

You’d think that this weather would be perfect for firing up the oven, and it is, but … I haven’t. Afflicted with a bout of indolence, I haven’t been bestirring myself to scale new culinary heights. Rather, I’ve been revisiting old favorites – such as Rice Krispies Treats.

Why bother mentioning this at all? It’s not as if it’s hard to find the Rice Krispies Treats recipe on the Internet. However, I can at least provide sound advice for how to avoid making “crunchy” Rice Krispies Treats. Occasionally, the melted marshmallows congeal like cement around everyone’s favorite crisp rice cereal instead of encasing them like a pillowy layer of foam. How to avoid this still-tasty but non-ideal fate for your Rice Krispies Treats?

Add more fat and corn syrup. Specifically, either up the amount of butter/margarine by a tablespoon or so *or* add a couple teaspoons of light corn syrup to the melted marshmallows. If you’re paranoid, do both! It’s also important to just melt the marshmallow mixture before adding it to the cereal – if you let it boil, the moisture will start to evaporate, which can also result in rock-like treats.